Who needs compete sentences anyway?

This week I can definitely give a 5. It was a great week but I am very happy for it to be over. We finished a project where my students made a video about a government during the FR and I am so excited about what they created!

Observe: This week we had two major things happen. My students created a video and they wrote an essay. I was pleasantly surprised with some of my students and the way they were able to take information and create a video. Some of the videos were great but others were not so great. I also gave them a peer rubric to grade their group on how well they did during the project. I asked for feedback about the project as well. I was pleased with what the students wrote for the most part but some of them did not enjoy the project (which I expected). My students also had to write a 5 paragraph essay this week based on some Document Based Questions we did last week. THIS WAS A PAIN!! It has become quite obvious to me that students do not write enough. I also did some investigating and found out that in language arts, they are not required to write in complete sentences and they only ever write their spelling words and stems. I became very frustrated with this assignment because I was constantly having to explain how to write a sentence. That being said, after a lot of guidance and reading and rereading essays, some of them turned out to be pretty good. I was very impressed with how hard the students were working on them and there are some students that never work at anything who were working their tails off the complete this assignment. 

Reflect: This week I learned that you cannot please everyone with every single lesson or project. The goal of an activity is to make sure that the students are having the material reinforced and not every student will enjoy every activity. Next week I will combat this problem with making sure we are doing a variety of activities that can please every student at least one day. 

Focus: I am still trying to create lessons that are real for my students. This week with the videos, I tried to make them relate their government to something physical that they had to do or make (song, play, etc.). I am also going to do this next week by doing a simulation of the Industrial Revolution which I hope will be memorable and meaningful to the students. 

Be productive: I could have spent more time explaining to my students how to write. This seems silly but they need to know how to write. Writing is linked to literacy. I think we have moved to a point in education where there is such a push for knowing how to read that writing gets pushed to the side while it is important too. 

Have courage: This week I did not have any moments where indecision impacted what I didn’t do. I have become more confident and I am also becoming more sassy (if that is appropriate). I am finally growing into my skin in terms of decision making. 

Begin Anew: My steps for next week is to make sure I am still confident with my discipline and that I am teaching my students the foundations and that I differentiating my instruction to make sure that every student is getting something out of my lessons. 

Data: This week I analyzed the videos and the some of the essays. Once I looked at some of the essays that have been completed and I took up an entire classes essays because they were struggling. I used this by revamping how I explained it the day before. I also had to create a guided template for them to use because they needed some extra help. 

Standard 1: 1c: begins to develop professional relationships and networks: This week I attended a PLC. My PLC does not meet much but I did attend this week. I also have developed a friendship with a lady who has shared some resources with me. 

Standard 2: 2b: incorporates different points of view into instruction: This one is something I am working on with the DBQ. It uses different POV to describe life before the revolution and different causes. 

Standard 3: 3b: Encourages students to investigate the content area to expand their knowledge and satisfy their natural curiosity. This is one that I have trouble with. This week I have made sure I am encouraging students to learn and investigate things they may have questions about or things that could help enhance their learning. 

Standard 4: 4d: Integrates technology with instruction to maximize students’ learning. I have done this this week by using touchcast for my students to make videos about the French Revolution. 

Standard 5: 5a: Uses data to provide ideas about what can be done to improve students’ learning.: I have done this this week by discussing with my CE about how students writing more could be a good way to improve literacy.